EconomicPolicyJournal.com

Sixth Night of Violence in Sweden

2013-05-25T14:59:00.000-04:00

FT reports: Rioting spread to several Swedish towns on Friday night as police stepped up arrests during a sixth night of unrest and far-right vigilantes chased non-whites in southern Stockholm. In Linköping, central southern Sweden, police responded to 120 incidents as cars, caravans and two schools were set alight. At one point a blazing truck was rolled into a building, which caught fire.

French Soldier Stabbed In Neck In Paris

2013-05-25T13:51:00.002-04:00

Developing... UPDATE 1: A French soldier patrolling a business area of western Paris was stabbed in the neck on Saturday by a man who quickly fled the scene and was still being sought, reports Reuters. UPDATE 2: French daily Le Parisien cited police sources as saying the suspected attacker was a bearded man of North African origin about 30 years old, and was wearing an Arab-style garment

Morrow: Roger Stone Is Correct LBJ Had JFK Killed

2013-05-25T13:51:00.000-04:00

Roger Stone will be out with a book in November, The Man Who Killed Kennedy"The Case Against LBJ. JFK Assasination historian Robert Morrow emails: I agree 100%. Just read Madeleine Brown, Billie Sol Estes, CIA E. Howard Hunt, Charles Crenshaw, Barr McClellan, Phil Nelson, Craig Zirbel and even the KGB who were in danger of being framed for the Crime of the Century. 1) http://

Monetary Maestros Manipulating My Money

2013-05-25T13:08:00.000-04:00

By, Chris Rossini While you're hard at work each day, Monetary Maestros are perched in their state-supported nests thinking up scenarios of how much of our purchasing power to take via monetary inflation. They conjure up formulas and models, plug in the data points, and then debate with one another the outcomes to their experiments. Our job is to keep going to work, watch a little TV, and

MI5 Link to Woolwich Attack Suspect

2013-05-25T11:51:00.000-04:00

Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo was asked to work for MI5 six months ago, according to one of his childhood friends, reports The Telegraph. Abu Nusaybah told the BBC's Newsnight programme that his friend, who has arrested after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, rejected the request after he was approached. He also claimed that Adebolajo had been detained by security forces during a

Want a Higher IQ? Do Not Get Distracted While Reading This

2013-05-25T11:06:00.000-04:00

By Maia Szalavitz A new study suggests that intelligence is more about what the brain chooses to ignore than simply its ability to process information rapidly. The research, which was published in the journal Current Biology, suggests new ways of testing intelligence that may be less biased by cultural knowledge— as many have claimed other IQ tests are. It may also help to explain the profound

Jesse Benton and The "Larval" Stages of Rand Paul's Presidential Campaign

2013-05-25T09:49:00.000-04:00

HuffPo tells us that Jesse Benton, now Mitch McConnell's campaign manager, is keeping an eye on Rand operations: While working for McConnell, Benton keeps an eye on the larval stages of Rand Paul's bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. Paul has made scouting trips to Iowa and New Hampshire and fundraising forays around the country. The objective of the Benton nexus is as clear as

Obama Dissociative Disorder

2013-05-25T09:11:00.000-04:00

Ilana Mercer observes: Obama has a lot of brazen habits. One of them is to discuss government as though he somehow were not a central part of it; as though the president were not the filthy fulcrum on which everything pivots. “President Obama, responding to mounting criticism of his Justice Department’s seizure of reporter records, said for the first time Thursday that the administration would

Great Gossip from Sheila Weller on Orrin Hatch, John Boehner and David Koch

2013-05-25T07:54:00.000-04:00

I have never before come across the writings of Sheila Weller, but she appears today in a WaPo feature called She The People. In her article, she dishes gossip about celebrities, the powerful and David Koch. Here is some of the gossip that she writes: Ali MacGraw told me that Richard Nixon was one of the most vulnerable people she’d ever met. Orrin Hatch earnestly asked Carly Simon her

Billy Joel's Advice on How to Sell a House for Top Dollar, to Pay Your Back Taxes

2013-05-24T17:01:00.000-04:00

During an interview with NYT mag, Billy Joel explains what happened to him after he discovered his financial advisor screwed him: I owed Uncle Sam a couple of million bucks in income tax, and the money that I thought was there, wasn’t there. I had to sell a place in the city. I was building a house out here in the Hamptons, and I owned a place on Central Park West. I sold it to Sting. I was

Lobsters Never Die (Until We Eat Them)

2013-05-24T15:58:00.000-04:00

As best scientists can tell, lobsters age so gracefully they show no measurable signs of aging: no loss of appetite, no change in metabolism, no loss of reproductive urge or ability, no decline in strength or health. Lobsters, when they die, seem to die from external causes, says NPR.

Time's Grunwald to Help Write Geithner's Book

2013-05-24T14:55:00.000-04:00

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has tapped Michael Grunwald, the senior national correspondent for Time Magazine, to help him write his forthcoming book about the financial crisis, reports Politico. "In writing his book, former Secretary Geithner will collaborate with Michael Grunwald, a senior national correspondent for Time magazine," Jenni LeCompte, a spokesperson for the former

Good 'Ole September 10th, 2001

2013-05-24T14:03:00.000-04:00

By, Chris Rossini While Ezra Klein puts out the headline: Obama’s six-point plan to wind down the ‘war on terror’ and the The Nation says: Global War on Terror, R.I.P. one must wonder what world they're living in. Are we really on the verge of such an incredible state of affairs? What is to happen with the massive Dept. of Homeland Security, which has been "stockpiling enough ammo for a 20-

12 Technologies that Will Drive Our Economic Future

2013-05-24T12:54:00.000-04:00

Researchers at the McKinsey Global Institute say it is the below. The researchers, led by James Manyika, narrowed their focus to technologies that are already advancing rapidly, have broad potential impact and could have significant economic impact, reports WaPo.

The Age of Authoritarianism: Government of the Politicians, by the Military, for the Corporations

2013-05-24T12:09:00.000-04:00

By John Whitehead “[F]orce alone cannot make us safe. We cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root; and in the absence of a strategy that reduces the well-spring of extremism, a perpetual war – through drones or Special Forces or troop deployments – will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways.”—Barack Obama, May 23, 2013 President Obama’s declaration

Paul Tudor Jones on How Breast Feeding Interferes with Being a Good Trader

2013-05-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

The usual suspects are all over this comment made by billionaire hedge fund trader Paul Tudor Jones, at a University of Virginia symposium in April: You will never see as many great women investors or traders as men. Period. End of story. And the reason why is not because they’re not capable. They’re very capable. Like, one of my No. 1 rules as an investor is as soon as my manager, if I find out

Rand Paul Calls for Infrastructure Fund

2013-05-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

Wow, this is why Rand Paul is really dangerous. When he wants to talk a libertarian game, he can, but he mixes it with a government is needed message. In other words, he is co-opting the libertarian message. In the clip below, he does a semi-decent pedestrian job of explaining the business cycle, but then goes on to quote Milton Friedman, who didn't understand the business cycle at all. Why not

Mankiw with a Flurry of Punches Against Krugman

2013-05-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Harvard professor and the world's greatest economic textbook salesman, Greg Mankiw, writes: In a recent blog post, Paul Krugman writes: As far as I know, among basic textbooks only Krugman/Wells even talks about the liquidity trap. This is probably a true statement. It is not that other books don't cover the topic, however. It is just that Paul Krugman doesn't know it. FYI, here is what

Could an Inside Sneak Attack on Bitcoin Destroy It?

2013-05-24T08:02:00.000-04:00

LRC has an important article posted to day about Bitcoin and regulation. The article is written by Paul Rosenberg. I can't argue with great passion against the points he is making, but I do have a slightly different view. Rosenberg writes: I’ve been warning about an outside attack on Bitcoin for some time, but the biggest threat may come from inside: from people who profess to love Bitcoin.

While Working for HBO, I Got Kicked Out of My Apartment and Fell in Love with a Bunch of Greek Waitresses

2013-05-23T22:58:00.000-04:00

By James Altucher One time I tried to move into a homeless shelter in Pittsburgh. I had this image that it would be like some sort of sex dormitory. I would meet all of these homeless ex-prostitutes or lonely single mothers and we would sneak into each other’s rooms and fall in love. We would whisper really quietly to each other at night and it would be exciting and fresh and new. I asked the

Gawker Attacks Ron and Rand Paul as Nutty

2013-05-23T22:44:00.001-04:00

Because of this: Ron and Rand Paul circa 1965 Gawker writes: If you're wondering how these two become so nutty in the 21st Century, all the clues are in this seemingly innocent photograph. Gawker has a problem because Rand isn't wearing a bike helmet and because the house in the background is brick. They have other issues with the photograph, here. Maybe they are trying to be funny and

If A Neocon Is Happy With Obama, You Shouldn't Be

2013-05-23T19:29:00.000-04:00

By, Chris Rossini President Obama gave a national security speech this afternoon. It appears that many are latching onto the following statement from the speech: "This war, like all wars, must end." He was referring to the War on Terror, and supposedly the statement shows that a different approach or tone is being taken than that of George W. Bush. I don't buy it for a second. I immediately

Texas Votes to Abolish Taxation of Gold

2013-05-23T18:26:00.000-04:00

The Texas Senate on Wednesday night passed H.B. 78, a bill that eliminates the sales tax on precious metal coins and bullion. It now goes to Governor Rick Perry’s desk for his signature into law. Existing Texas statute applies the 6.25% sales tax to purchases of gold and silver under $1,000, reports The Journal. (ht Nick Sorrentino)

Rutherford Institute Has Filed Suit On Behalf of Brandon Raub

2013-05-23T18:06:00.000-04:00

The Rutherford Institute has filed suit over the weeklong detention last August of Brandon J. Raub, reports WTOP. Raub was taken into custody last August after being questioned by local police and federal agents about various Facebook posts he made about the government. A circuit court judge in Virginia's Prince George County ordered Raub released after the Rutherford Institute came to his aide

Federally Backed Student Loan Interest Rates Set to Double on July 1 to 6.8%

2013-05-23T16:55:00.000-04:00

Federally backed student loan interest rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, reports The Hill. To stop the hike, the House today passed a Republican bill that would permanently peg federal student loan interest rates to government interest rates, reports TH. The bill creates a permanent fix by setting student loan interest rates at a level equal to the 10-year